
Page two. 
Our Illinois membership has increased four-fold in eight years, but it is still 
small for the size of our state; in California, they now have 10,000 Audubon members 
with a visible effect upon the body politic. The National Audubon Society, with a 
vigorous conservation leadership, has increased its membership to 87,000 and will now 
reach 100,000 before the year is out. Though a respectable figure, this is small in- 
deed when compared to the American Legion with a membership of 2,381,000; the NAACP 
with 450,000; the VFW with 1,800,000; even Alcoholics Annonymous has a membership of 
over 400,000. It is obvious that if we are going to have the kind of effect needed, 
we'll have to enroll more people in our cause. The preservation of our natural and 
human environment is "everyone's cause,! 
What are some of our conservation problems in Illinois? A - We need to remind 
our public officials and corporation officials to step up the campaign against water 
and air pollution. Conservationists have not demanded the kind of leadership needed 
to lick these twin evils on either a local, state or national level. B - Local Citizen 
action is desperately needed to establish county forest preserve or Conservation Dis- 
tricts. Less than 20% of our counties have either, but in conservative lowa across 
the river, 96% of the counties have formed coalition groups to establish county con- 
servation districts to provide recreation space for their people. C - Our Illinois 
legislature, not hearing from the people, killed off a fine Scenic Roads bill, killed 
a pesticide bill to ban DDT, and passed little conservation legislation. Lincoln once 
said, "To sin by silence makes cowards of men." 
Recently, I looked over the Christmas count which appeared in the March Bulletin. Il 
noticed that in one area, over 40 persons turned out on a cold December day to count 
birds. Would it not have been great, if a half dozen of them gathered at some one's 
home a month later and said, "If we have time to look for birds, can!t we take some 
time to ork with other groups to establish a conservation district so that we might 
preserve the habitat of birds." That is what it is all about - the preservation of 
our environment. "Time does not matter. What matters is to continue fighting. Diffi- 
culties do not matter. What matters is that we walk on the path together, all of us." 
Woodrow Wilson once said, "It is up to the people to take care of their government." 
We can use a greater vigor and commitment in our society. For example, only 14 
persons signed up in 1969 for tasks of their choice in our IAS Volunteer Corps. We 
are an all-volunteer organization and whatever progress is made, is due to those who 
are willing to lend a hand. Only four persons responded to an appeal to help allay 
the litter problem on the Illinois Prairie Path this spring. But 73 persons were con- 
cerned enough about the fate of the Prairie Grouse to make a donation to the Prairie 
Chicken Foundation of Illinois this year, about one in 25. As ex-cabinet official 
John W. Gardner once said, "We cannot afford to be discouraged by the difficulty of 
the problems. If they were easy, we would have solved them long ago." 
On the National scene, President Nixon and his advisers have said that there will 
be no "peace dividend" to solve the domestic problems after the Vietnam war ends, be- 
cause the money will be used for more military expenditures. This statement has been 
greeted by the hoots and contempt it deserves, We face a severe water crisis in this 
nation and it will cost $125 billion to cure it. <A national Citizens Crusade for Cleam 
Water has been established to help secure funds and to end the apathy of the American 
people and this administration and the Congress. Author Raymond F. Dasmann, writing 
for the Conservation Foundation, quotes Pogo, when he says, "We have met the enemy, and 
he is us." He points out - "If you want a world fit to live in, you must fight for it." 
If you wish to give us ideas, you feel are worthwhile, we!d be glad to hear from 
you. If you would like to help us put those ideas into action, get in touch with us. 
Unless conservationists are willing to put more muscle and money, time and vigor into 
the conservation movement in Illinois, our human and natural environment will continue 
to deteriorate, and we shall have no one to blame but ourselves. 
--ekRaymond Mostek, President, Illinois Audubon Society 
